Should I Dispatch My Turkeys Now?

[2pinkmom]

I have 5 BB Toms that are 4 months old. Don't know their weight, because, well, I'm afraid of getting pecked to death trying to weigh one

. They're large and getting aggressive towards each other. One took a large chunk of skin off another's shoulder the other day. Should I just dispatch them now and be done with it? Or should I wait until closer to Thanksgiving? If you reach around one, they feel pretty meaty, but these are my first turkeys, so I have no clue if 4 months is big enough. Any thoughts from those that have done this before?

 

[jasonm11]

at 4 months they are getting close. I take the bathroom scale outside and weight myself, then grab one up by the feet and it will calm down almost instantly and weight again. You will loose about 15 to 20% of the live weight when you process him.

 

[oldmossinger]

I just did mine (BBB), they were around 4 to 4 1/2 months old. 2 50 pound bags of feed every 7-10 days on top of the cheap corn for 8 birds decided me. The toms were around 40# before processing. Even then hens were bigger than the heritage tom (who gets to stay). I've found that 4 - 4.5 is the magic number for me (YMMV of course) Mine were also starting to lumber when they walked, not trying to roost only 3 feet off the ground.